Chopper crash: Brigadier Lidder laid to rest with full military honour

Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder, the Defence Adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, was cremated with full military honours at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday. Lidder was among the 13 people who died in the Indian Air Force helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on December 8. He is survived by wife Geetika Lidder and a daughter.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present at the last rites and laid wreaths on the mortal remains of Brigadier LS Lidder. His wife and daughter broke down while paying their last respects to him.

The three service chiefs - Army Chief General MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari too paid their last respects to Brig LS Lidder.

Along with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, Lidder was among the 13 killed when a Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

Who was Brigadier Lidder?

• Brigadier Lidder was defence assistant to the CDS since January 2021

• He was commissioned in the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles (JAKRIF) in December 1990

• He commanded a battalion of the JAKRIF in Congo as UN peacekeeping force

• He also commanded a brigade on India's northern borders